Download UUNO KLAMI: The View from the Podium

The centenary of the birth of the Finnish composer Uuno Klami has
been conspicuously celebrated this year. In September a two-day
symposium was held in his honour in Helsinki, music by him has
been performed at numerous concerts, and his life story has been
told both in the press and in the new book (in Finnish) “Uuno Klami,
his life and works” by Kalevi Aho and Marjo Valkonen. Concert audiences have in fact been regularly spoilt with Klami’s music, which has
long been standard repertoire of the Finnish orchestras. But what do
the performers themselves have to say about Uuno Klami? Wherein
lies the secret of his perpetual popularity, and what technical challenges and interpretations does his music offer? To find out the
answers to these questions, we interviewed Tuomas Ollila, who has
this year conducted music by Klami at three concerts and on disc
with the Tampere Philharmonic Orchestra.
Henna Salmela: Klami is, after Sibelius and
Rautavaara, one of the most frequent names
on the Finnish concert programme. What
do you consider to be the secret of his
undying popularity?
Tuomas Ollila: In his music Klami succeeded in boring deep into the very bedrock
of the Finnish soul, and this undoubtedly
explains his popularity with domestic audiences. He also has points in common with
many different musical styles and composers.
But although he did, as we know, like to shop
around, he seldom overstepped the mark. I
think it was Toivo Kärki who once said that
the secret of a good tango lies in its sounding
sufficiently familiar. The same could be said
for the music of Uuno Klami.
HS: This year you have conducted Klami’s
oratorio Psalmus in two different performances. According to the Sibelius scholar
Erkki Salmenhaara, Psalmus is one of the
rare Finnish works on a par with those of
Jean Sibelius. Would you personally bracket Klami with Sibelius or any other composer?
TO: Not really. I look upon Psalmus as a Finnish masterpiece, but it carries virtually no Sibelius associations for me. Musically it’s extremely original. The unusually powerful text
also contributes a lot to the overall impact,
because it strongly moulds the musical idiom.
True, it is possible to pick out quotations from
Puccini and there are echoes of Sibelius’s
fourth symphony, but there’s nothing unusual
about that.
HS: Psalmus was originally considered an
extremely difficult work, especially for the
choir. After its premiere in 1937 it was not
performed again for another 23 years. Has
time ironed out some of the difficulties, or
how hard is it, would you say, from the
orchestra’s, the choir’s and the conductor’s
point of view?
TO: Looking at it today, I wouldn’t say that
the choral part is in any way a stumbling
block. The singers do, of course, have their
work cut out, and there are some very tricky
passages, especially for the male chorus. As far
as the orchestra’s concerned, it’s not a particularly difficult work, though Klami has a
very gritty way of writing music. He is widely
acclaimed as a good orchestrator, but it’s not
so easy to make his music sound properly –
you really have to work at it. Klami experimented widely with his orchestration; in that
sense he liked taking risks.
HS: Your readings of Psalmus have differed
considerably from that on the Finlandia recording made in 1988 with Ulf Söderblom
conducting. What liberties have you taken,
especially with the tempos?
TO: I used to try to conduct Klami’s works as
they were written, as if I were documenting
them and observing the original metronome
HS: The most frequently heard work by
Klami, the Kalevala Suite, has been given
some 20 performances in the past five
years. The Sea Pictures and The Cobblers on
the Heath Overture are also among his
most popular works, both getting nearly
ten performances between 1996 and 2000.
You yourself have conducted the King Lear
Overture and the original version of the
violin concerto, and you’ve recorded both
symphonies with the Tampere Philharmonic Orchestra. Do you have any particular
favourites?
TO: The Kalevala Suite is my out-and-out
favourite. It just seems to work of its own
accord, both the orchestration and the tempos. The King Lear Overture is a powerful
piece but you have to work hard to make it
sound right. It’s got all the ingredients of the
Kalevala Suite in miniature, as it were. And
there’s nothing to beat the Klami works on
national themes. They’ve got humour and
folk music in a heady combination, as in the
Cobblers Overture, which virtually has the
last word on the use of humour in this
Klami genre.
HS: How have your orchestras and
audiences reacted to Klami’s music?
TO: To begin with the players may be very
critical if the notes don’t immediately fall
into place. You often have to work hard at
Klami’s music. But the audience reactions
have been distinctly positive, often better
than I expected. On our tours of the provinces, for example, the audience regularly
gets genuinely carried away. The music of
Uuno Klami seems to have something quite
special about it that appeals to the Finnish
ear and just suits our national character.
Henna Salmela
Photo: Heikki Tuuli
UUNO KLAMI:
The View from the Podium
markings. But for some reason it just didn’t
work for me. I somehow feel that the original tempos are all too slow for the rhythm
of life today. My own tempos are, generally
speaking, relatively fast, but in Klami’s case
possibly even a bit faster than normal. His
works just seem to work better that way.
Tuomas Ollila (b. 1965),
is conductor of the Tapiola
Sinfonietta. In 2000 he has
made guest appearances
with the Melbourne,
Sydney, Dutch Radio,
BBC Wales, Scottish
Symphony and other
orchestras.